fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5822 ]

[ SECRET POST #5822 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5822 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Honestly? I find it much more depressing to go to school and university and work and everywhere else and meet a zillion people whose names are so ordinary that I all but have to take pictures of them and attach notes so that I can remember what completely generic boy-name or girl-name this particular one happens to have.

It especially sucks when a name was so popular that you've got five men or women in the same whatever and they wind up with nicknames and name variations because otherwise we'd all waste a lot of time on "right, so-and-so, but which one?" That's not better for people's self-esteem than having a really uncommon name.

So, I love it when I meet people who are legit named things like Ambrose and Anastasia and Sephiroth and - bless - Lucius. I'm sure there are a lot of things I would hate about your job, but I think knowing about more fandom names would not be among them.

(I'm less enthused with the older practice of giving little girls more whimsical but at the same time more frivolous names than boys ... things like Brandy and Candy and Savannah.)

Also, there are a lot of fandom names that people don't conclusively register as fandom names, because they're also common names. Those don't do me any good, because I don't care WHY their parents named them Luke, or Thomas, or William. But it seems rather unfair that the vitriol is saved for the ones that don't have a recent history of real-world people who bore their name before they did.

All of that said, I think employer's notions that it's okay to threaten their employees with dire consequences for not keeping what they see and hear on the job a complete secret is bullshit. You should be able to go home and vent. You should be able to come here and go into enough detail that I'm not having to guess at what you mean.

There’s nothing wrong with Brandy, Candy or Savannah as names though? They’re not even particularly whimsical or frivolous either. When I was reading your sentence I was expecting at least something like Fiona. You know, fairytale sounding, but plausible enough. Or something absurdly made up. Or a “fancy” WASP sounding name like Cardalia(I knew one who fit this description). Not these relatively common names. Or in Savannah’s case, also the name a city in Georgia.

Fiona is a traditional and boring name in the UK, Australia and New Zealand!

It is, and I never said it wasn’t. I wasn’t trying to say it was a made up name, or a name that doesn’t exist outside of America. I’m not even saying it’s a name I particularly like, even though my mother(who’s from Ireland) loves it enough that she used at as a nickname for me. Even though my actual name is nothing like it. But it sounds suitably fairytale-esque from a certain perspective compared to the names ayrt(you?) gave, while still being plausible. I was just saying it’s a just a tad more whimsical and frivolous than Brandy, Candy, and Savannah. Which I consider just as boring as Fiona, but with even less potential for whimsicality. They might be foreign sounding in non-English speaking countries, but that’s a different story. And Fiona may be traditional, but it isn’t too old of a name, having only been around for a couple of centuries. It’s believed that it originated with the Scottish poet James Macpherson in the 1700s. There might be proof that could contradict this popular sentiment, but I’ve never seen it.

SA

For further clarification, I’m not trying to say names like Fiona are uncommon, and I’m not trying to use fairytale-esque to imply that it is actually a frivolous name just because I think it could be more whimsical when compared to some others. I shouldn’t have said any name sounded frivolous, but that’s me going against my own point of names not needing to have any “meaning” to everyone to exist. I think calling someone’s name frivolous itself, especially when it’s a pretty common name, isn’t nice. So I’m not much better for having used the word myself. A spelling of a name can be considered frivolous though, if it’s one of the reality annoying ones other anons have mentioned, like Jaxxsin or Destyneee.

I just consider Brandy, Candy, and Savannah that boring, but still fine enough names. So I wanted to use something else relatively common in some places but slightly less boring. In the same way Maria is slightly less boring than Amy to me. It’s all subjective though, obviously.

It’s just in romantic and fantasy stories that give a heroine’s name, a lot of them end in an “a”. Which Savannah technically does in sound, but I can’t see any book heroines being named that(watch me be completely wrong about that). But a lot of the names also end in “ia”, “io”,”iona”, and “iana”. Hence why I chose Fiona. I could have easily went with something like Ariana and I would have meant the same thing. Because that’s also a not that uncommon name, that’s either pretty or boring depending on who’s speaking. And I would still consider it more whimsical than the three names the anon I was replying to mentioned.

Also, I didn’t mean to call the anon I was responding to ayrt in my last response, because you weren’t responding to them. That was my bad, as well as not explaining my other points clearly enough from the start.

(Anon you originally responded to)

I'd agree with you that calling some names frivolous can be mean-spirited. But this is rarely recognized or treated like a problem when someone is bashing the proliferation of recognizable fandom names.

It's rather difficult to express personal impressions of name groups without someone feeling slighted. But my point emphatically wasn't to say that those are bad names. It was that, one to four generations back from mine, there seemed to be a pervasive social pattern where people named their boys more conservatively because it was easier for them to imagine situations where a son would be hindered by not being taken seriously. And spare less thought for the fact that names that, on a little girl, seem cute and wholesome, could wind up playing into sexist notions of them as adults.

I was bringing this up in a thread about fandom names for two reasons. One, because where I live, these girls names (that have several generations of common use) are not targets for ridicule. And yet, there is nothing inherently more acceptable about naming your child after a food or a drink or a desirable location than naming them after a fictional character. Two, because while I like distinctive names, I think the fact that people seem to still assume they are less important on girls (or less likely to attract angry outbursts like the one downthread) ought to be addressed directly.

Also, I'm seeing more boys get interesting names lately, and the pitch of the backlash seems to be kicking up accordingly.

I see, that does make sense. I apologize for misinterpreting your comment.

AYRT

Ah, don't worry about that. No harm done.

As someone with a super common and ordinary name, I would honestly KILL to be named something like Aerith or Arya or Leia because I'm so tired of being one of multiple [Name]s in any given situation. I had to pick an uncommon nickname because in my freshman English class in college, there were four other people with the same name out of 25 of us.

These days I go by my online handle, which is a female name but one that isn't very common. People always compliment it and tell me how pretty it is. If it weren't such a pain in the ass to change your name legally, I would honestly change my name and just make it my legal name because I like it so much better than my real name.

AYRT

I've seen people do this offline, and so far, have very much liked the names they go by! I think this would be a lot more widespread if people weren't afraid that their legal name is protecting them from social unpleasantness, and that an uncommon one would leave them vulnerable.

You know how it's a safety risk to even tell people your first name online? That also goes for telling other people's first names online, especially children's names. Especially children's names that don't belong to a large number of people. Even if you're anonymous. I would never risk even the slimmest chance of helping someone who shouldn't find a kid.

Yeah, I agree. There definitely IS a point where a name goes past interesting for me and becomes ridiculous, but that point is a lot further away than it seems to be for most people. I genuinely like unique, interesting, and uncommon names. Hell, I have a name that's generally considered quite pretty but fairly common. There's both a masculine (not super common) and a feminine (very common) shortening of it, and I've always chosen to go by the masculine version despite being female, because I just find it a much more interesting name.

I ended up somewhere in the middle with an unusual spelling of a once common name. While I have run into a few people with the same spelling, it's a rare occurrence. Likewise, people struggle to pronounce it. I'd rather have a common spelling or ordinary name (partly because my last name majes it impossible to have a name doppelganger).

TL;DR? An ordinary nane might not be so bad when you consider the alternative scenarios.

ITT: unique and special snowflakes who were tragically robbed of having a unique name befitting their specialness and the wonderful childhood experience of carrying such a name through grade school. And who also apparently think names like Fiona and Brandy are too frivolous for their special selves lmao.

Hey, now you're an adult, why don't you put your money where your mouth is and just legally change your name to Sephiroth or Aerith? You know you can do that right, people who would "kill" to have been given such a name?

I don’t think Fiona is a frivolous name, though. It was my bad for saying it, but I don’t think it. I also obviously don’t think Brandy is frivolous. I don’t think names should be described as frivolous to begin with, because all names have meaning. They’re only a potential problem if it will get the kid bullied. But kids do have a way of bullying each other even with normal names, so.

Also, you’re just making shit up without any evidence but assumptions. My name is actually considered unique in America at least. It’s a common last name in Ireland, but I’ve only met one other person in America with my name. It’s Kiernan.

You’re just misrepresenting what everyone in this thread is saying to be a pompous asshole who thinks you’re above everyone else. None of these conversations are “special snowflake” in any way. But you’re outing yourself as a tryhard by even using that to describe anyone in the year of our lord 2022 anyways. You just showed everyone your ass while trying to act superior.

You are being extravagantly rude. I commented as someone who has grown up with a distinctive name, and does not feel burdened by it. When people are immediately seized by rage at the whole idea of this, as you were, they merely out themselves to me. And also to anyone around who reacted better.

(For clarity, this is the anon you responded to. The person who mentioned Fiona is someone else, and apparently replied first.)

... you do realize what a monumental pain in the ass changing your name legally is, right? I have trans friends who still haven't done it because it can cause major issues with actual serious things like unemployment, getting your driver's license renewed, disability benefits, etc.

+1 In addition to the issues ayrt listed, it's also very expensive and time-consuming where I live.

Yeah, if it were simple and easy and didn't come with all sorts of snags I would've done it more than a decade ago. As it is, I go by my preferred name in daily life but just keep my legal name for official stuff.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #5822 ]

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